01 May 2009

A global guide to design protection

Managing Intellectual Property

Managing IP magazine asked correspondents in six jurisdictions to provide the information you need to protect your design rights

One-minute read

Design rights – both registered and unregistered – are an often-overlooked weapon in the IP lawyer's armoury. Far from being a second-class form of IP protection, they can offer rights owners looking for cheap and simple protection for their products many advantages over other forms of intellectual property. They are usually registered quickly; examination procedures are frequently less onerous than those applied to trade marks and patents, and the scope of protection offered is generally broad. On top of that, in many jurisdictions the length of protection provided by a design right lasts up to 25 years.

In this Q& A guide, practitioners from six jurisdictions explain the rules for protecting your rights using design laws.

Questions on designs

How can designs be protected in your jurisdiction by registration? Other than copyright, is there also specific unregistered protection against copying of designs?
What examination criteria have to be met and how strictly/consistently are they applied?
What are the key recent decisions from the courts on validity and/or infringement, and what lessons can be drawn from them?
How could design protection be improved?

China
European Union
Japan
Korea
Switzerland
United States

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A global guide to design protection

The rest of this article is available to subscribers to Managing IP only.

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